That is the reason why they missed the playoffs. They took winning for granted.
The notion that they would set up a fund so that if they made it to the Grey Cup, their wives could attend, does not mean they took winning for granted.
They just were preparing for the possibility and that was good planning. if they didn't get the berth, well the funds could be used for a different purpose.
This is really ugly stuff by Buono to turn on his players and say this kind of stuff to the press and media. His blame game has no limits and he has no conscience to do this. Sad, sad, sad to see a man of his age using these kind of tactics. Its as low as it gets.
I remember Dickenson, in 2005, saying that a number of Calgary players were not proud of Buono as their HC.
Right now, as a die hard Leos fan, I am embarrassed that he is our Head Coach
Here is Ed Willes excerpt.
As with any last-place team, the Lions have provided an endless source of material for their critics. Some are valid. Some are asinine. But when asked Friday about this team’s circumstances, Buono went in a slightly different direction and, by slightly different, we mean another time dimension.
During the course of a free-form, steam-of-consciousness exchange with the media, Buono suggested the Lions took winning for granted this season. As proof, he pointed to a fund the team set up for the wives of Lions’ players to travel to the Grey Cup. Yes he did.
So for those of you who think this season was about Jennings’ interception ratio or the Lions’ inability to finish games, you now realize how wrong you’ve been.
“You see the mindset,” Buono said. “Now is that arrogance? Is that stupidity? Or did we just expect (to win)?
“When you expect to win sometimes you don’t earn it. Maybe that’s been our downfall. We expected to win and we forgot how to earn it.”
Sure. Why not. Buono knows this team and knows about the psychology of winning. Besides, you have to admit, the Grey Cup fund for players’ wives theorem scores big points for originality.